Manhood Matters Podcast
Conversations around challenges dominating a man's journey through life. These topics are explored by real, everyday friends, with a lot of experience... And we have the occasional expert guest.
Manhood Matters Podcast
Ceelo Green: The Man - The Artist
The legendary CeeLo Green joins us for a profound conversation that travels deep into his spiritual journey, artistic evolution, and newfound mission as a healthcare advocate. With the wisdom that comes from turning 50, CeeLo reflects on his transformation from a self-described "destructive person" to becoming a voice for community wellness and purpose.
"Adversity is not your enemy. Adversity is a sparring partner," CeeLo shares, offering a perspective that reframes life's challenges as opportunities for growth. His poetic insights on mortality—"use your mortality as your motivation"—reveal an artist who has found deeper purpose beyond his musical accomplishments.
The Grammy-winning artist opens up about his spiritual awakening, describing himself as "a reincarnation of realist" and "a shaman for the spirit of soul" continuing the legacy of musical greats before him. This spiritual foundation drives his commitment to community service, particularly as the inaugural healthcare champion for the 100 Black Men of South Fulton. On September 20th at Old National Commons, CeeLo will help provide $20,000 worth of free health screenings, addressing the critical issue of preventable diseases in the Black community.
Music lovers will appreciate CeeLo's revelations about his creative process, musical influences from James Brown to Jackie Wilson, and his current work on "Gnarls Barkley GB3, the final frontier." His definition of success as "health, wealth and wellness... sustainability, a system of one" reflects the evolution of an artist who has transcended the boundaries of fame to embrace a more holistic vision of accomplishment.
Whether you're a longtime fan or discovering CeeLo's wisdom for the first time, this conversation offers valuable insights on resilience, purpose, and using your platform for positive change. Join us for this unforgettable discussion with one of music's most distinctive voices.
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Host: StéphaneAlexandre
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Music by Liam Weisner
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My mother lives on. I died. The person I used to be didn't always have some good shit to say. You understand Right? Actually it's quite the opposite Very destructive person, self-loathing, suicidal, psychotic. But ignorance is a sickness, a parasite that they eat at the person and personality, affect the personality. You have to be healed. So adversity is not your enemy. Adversity is a sparring partner. It's a good sport. It doesn't matter if it wins or loses, it's just something to do.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So you can beat adversity. That was a good one. Yeah, I'll go fight somebody else.
Speaker 3:Thank you for joining us today. Yes, the voice you just heard is Atlanta's very own, very distinguishable CeeLo Green. Ceelo is partnering with the mentoring group, the 100 Black Men of South Fulton to be their inaugural healthcare champion On September 20th at the Old National Commons in South Fulton. At the Old National Commons in South Fulton, Emery Grady, Kaiser Permanente and some other benefactors are giving away $20,000 worth of free health screening. It's an amazing event and CeeLo is fighting for our community, so definitely be there. Bring someone you care about. They start as early as 7 am.
Speaker 3:Now, of course, you know, on this podcast, I wouldn't have CeeLo Green here and not have a conversation about the person. He is the altruist. As a fellow musician, I wanted to know about his art, specifically in regards to him being a producer and a songwriter. We dive a little bit into his spirituality, what he's got going on today, his mindset and daily philosophies. Now that he's turned 50, what's next for the next 50 years for CeeLo Green? This is a real cool conversation, as always. Please don't forget to click that follow button and share this episode with someone you know, someone you care about, so they can join us every Monday for thought-provoking conversations.
Speaker 3:Welcome to Manhood Matters. Let's get to it. Welcome to the podcast, brother. Thank you, Welcome to the podcast. Ceelo Green in the flesh. You know I've watched you on TV for a long time. I've been a huge fan of yours. It's amazing to have you here. Welcome back, Dre. Yeah, that's right. Yes, sir, I'm back. My pleasure King, my pleasure, Absolutely. Man, I'm glad to have seen. For a super long time You've been called everything from a visionary, a rebel, a preacher with a melody. Befittingly, when you strip away all these labels, who is CeeLo Green today?
Speaker 1:I am a reincarnation, or reincarnation of realist. As a matter of fact, I'm probably more than that. I'm probably a shaman for the spirit of all, the spirit of soul, um a strength, a perspective, um an objective, uh, path, a plight. You know there are many other greats um that. I could name a long list of who. I feel like I am continuing the work you know I'm saying within the realm of their legacies, so I'm not the first coming. You know I'm saying like of a thing.
Speaker 1:You know I mean like I am a continuum of a thing yeah and so I say that very humbly but, matter of factly, people may even take it out of context if I name names, but if what I'm saying you paraphrase, you know, to the point of a person, singular individual that you can think of, that has tried to move something like our needle and push us forward, then yeah, I will be in, aligned with that action. That's what's up.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir, and that attitude yeah, I have a whole lot of other questions, but now that you started talking that way and you speak in my language, talk to me about that spiritual side of you. You're more of spirit, having a human experience, than a human who knows that they have a spirit. Oh, absolutely so. It sounds to me like you're we all are, but it sounds to me like you're aware of it, and that awareness is really what I want to touch on right now, so you can expound on that a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think what people bear witness to is my relationship with the spirit. Uh, it has been a friendly ghost, you know. I mean, um, I was frightened by it because it came to meet me. You say it introduced itself to me very early on. It's one of those kids, you know, when you're like afraid of the dark and sound like you know.
Speaker 3:And claire for wines. Is that what she's talking about, or?
Speaker 1:maybe not as strong. So, like you me, but that probably wouldn't be the word that I would use if I'm going back to my inner child, the way that I'm recalling it. It was just about believing. I believed, you feel me. There was something beyond my realm of understanding. You feel me, but I was conscious enough to have an internal dialogue with myself.
Speaker 1:So I'm always accounting for and being made aware of things, whether it's numbers or whether it's vibrations, whether it's inclinations and voices and things of that nature. It would strike a chord with me and I would be able to determine whether or not it was something really real and genuine and authentic. So a lot of my benefactors were. So a lot of my benefactors were, you know, big brothers were the voices of, you know, maurice White, philip Bailey, bobby Womack, johnny Taylor, bobby Blue, bland you know stuff like that. So for a young man, you know, man child, I had an old soul, I had old taste, I liked old music, old cars, older women you know what I'm saying. Like I used to think I could go with my mother's friends and stuff like that. So I would try to talk with them and I would try to be par. You know what I'm saying, like you know, with my personality, and actually convey a conversation that was worthy of an adult woman in that scenario of a conversation. Does that sound strange?
Speaker 1:No, not at all, it's true, so, but when I knew that I was being effective, I was definitely being intentional. But when I knew that I was being effective is even I could see that slight of consideration, like that look of like. Are you serious? I'm saying, did you just say that? Or like like, almost like, wait a minute, wait a minute, man, like you said, let me right, you know something like that. So again, I don't even know if I'm being too honest about that. I don't know if I'm going too far down that line but not at all.
Speaker 1:I'm saying that to say that I've been, um, I don't really remember being a child, I don't remember being needy. I always remember being independent, being hyperactive, uh, some hypersensitivity, awareness, um, extroverted, you know, outgoing, outrageous over the top. You know, I'm born under the sign of Gemini. So, like you know I mean, if you know anything about that Zodiac and all of the traits that come along with the territory of that I am a true embodiment and personification of those things. And you know, before you can get a gauge on it, you're just kind of throwing color at the palette.
Speaker 3:Yeah, with that being the case, is there at some point, maybe a time or a section of your career, where you felt that you might've been either overlooked or misunderstood because of that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course, but I happen to believe that true art is meant to be misunderstood because it's to be subjected to interpretation. Okay, art is meant to be misunderstood, not mass produced. You know, and there's a great quote from Andy Warhol that says art is what you can get away with.
Speaker 3:And he's gotten away with a lot arguably.
Speaker 1:But let's talk about misunderstanding. Lot arguably, but let's talk about misunderstanding. There's an irony in the acts of God that really give light to this statement. It's not truly a miracle unless it doesn't make complete and total sense. Give you an example.
Speaker 1:So a minister said something that stuck with me once and I live by it. It's become a practice. Fundamentally, he said let me tell you something about the God I serve. The God I serve created what's known as a cumulus cloud, and this cloud houses thunder, lightning and precipitation, but a physical plane can fly through it it's transparency and not get struck or wet. Does that make any sense? He said it doesn't have to make sense because my God is all powerful, Right on, yeah, and so I like that God uses you know what I'm saying like the illogical to prove his point. And so a young man from Atlanta, Georgia, fairly odd, fairly peculiar and eccentric, but to be able to accomplish some remarkable things, doesn't make much sense, because I didn't have help necessarily, but I did have guidance and I saw the signs and the help I've been given was interceded in me. The willful obedience you know what I'm saying the knowingness, the Wernthal, I'm endowed with those things and that's what I honor. It's the weight of the duty.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying, Like the responsibility that keeps me grounded you know, speaking of those things that you've accomplished and you've done some remarkable things that you just stated, we all know this right, we've, we follow your career, we watch you, but what are you personally most proud of?
Speaker 1:I'm proud of being able to string those words into a sentence and be able to convey that to you as a matter of fact. I mean like I'm very proud that that has been my reality, that's been my experience. You know what I'm saying, and I'm proud that I have a selflessness to songwrite for people who are putting themselves together and I still am too. But I do realize that life is like a puzzle. There's no existence that is unpurposed. Nothing or no one is in vain. You have purpose, even if your purpose is to just listen and interpret and then bear witness and remark upon or support or draw attention, to draw direct traffic toward the message. You know what I'm saying. You can be effective in that way as well. So what's the point in having a signal with no receptor? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, it's just going to dissipate into nothingness. No, it has to be caught With that. You know. I'm just grateful that I could make some sense of some of this, because for most people real life does not rhyme.
Speaker 2:Make some sense of some of this because for most people, real life does not rhyme. And I just want to say something real quick. You know, uh, silo, this is our second time working together. Last year we worked with the agency man. We were at the mlk uh center over at morehouse and you and I got an opportunity to speak then and uh, you know, at that moment you know, I was trying to you know, respect you, because I know that you were there. You probably have people talk to you all the time, but you probably didn't notice, man, I saw you at Fellini's, like two years earlier than that, and I saw you eating. I was like man, you know what? Something in that moment God told me. In that very moment I didn't have to come up to you at Fellini's because there was going to be a time where you and I were going to have an opportunity to come together and I'd have an opportunity to talk to you. And so, like last year, we worked on that project together and then this year, when we got ready to do it with 100 Black Men, the first person I thought about was you. But I want to tell you something real quick about you. You talk about effectiveness.
Speaker 2:There's a story I want to tell you about my actual journey through this world and how you made a contribution to that. The voice that God gave you here in Atlanta made it down to a place called Matt Chapel Florida. Now y'all can't find it on the map. You ain't gonna find Matt Chapel Florida on the map, but I promise you is there, somewhere between Pensacola, somewhere between Tallahassee and South Alabama. We're right there, right. One traffic light grew up on a farm.
Speaker 2:But the tape, the CD made it to us, and the things that you were speaking about, what you were preaching about, what you were teaching about, gave a country boy With neither one of our parents had education, nor had he ever gone to college before. Gave me the belief In the thought process that I could be able to Reach outside of what I saw in those woods and that whatever in life that I wanted to achieve, it was really up to me. And not only was it up to me, I had a responsibility to do that and to be able to get to the point to where I could be a voice, to be able to help and enlighten my people. So I just want to say personally, man, thank you for you know, being obedient to your calling because guess what. So I just want to say personally, man, thank you for you know, being obedient to your calling, because, guess what, when I got to FAMU, there's a whole other generation of brothers that heard the same thing. That's right, and we were able to talk about that and we had that in common.
Speaker 2:And then, as you continue to get older, you meet other people. We all go back to that. Something we have in common is that how your message and your obedience and your spirit was able to help guide us and to be able to think beyond where we initially were and to be able to see what other people thought was impossible. So I just want to say thank you for that. Yes, sir, I appreciate that man. Bottom of my heart.
Speaker 3:So, dre, you mentioned almost feeling like this was destined to happen Right, and now you're working together. Talk to us about the capacity in which you're working together and how CELA is going to contribute to the organization.
Speaker 2:Right. So because of what we did last year the work that he did, I mean because him just showing up and being so free of his time and giving and being who he is and taking time for us we were able to screen so many people there were 25% of the men we screened last year were at stroke level Wow. And we got them to the hospital because they saw CeeLo on a flyer, they saw CeeLo in a video and they came out and wanted to be a part of it. So now, as we're going forward, we're this year September 20th, down at Old National Commons, the 100 Black Men, the city of South Fulton we're doing a giving away $20,000 worth our inaugural health care champion.
Speaker 2:So it's not just about us asking him to do something for us. We recognize what he's pouring into us and helping us to do, so we want to pour into him as well, because, I mean, he gets flowers but hey, we don't think there's any such thing as too many flowers. We want to give him all the flowers we can, because we know what he means to this community, what he's meant to our culture and how he's helping us now be able to get that message out there. So we just appreciate him. So again, thank you, brother, for just being willing to step up to the call, of course.
Speaker 3:So with the new trend these days, I guess the past five years or so, everything that is done that is supposed to be altruistic is always done on camera. No one knows about this. Why does this particular event matter to you? Why does this cause matter to you? Can you tell us about this? Do you just feel like, hey, I just want to make sure that I take care of these brothers and help as much as I can.
Speaker 1:Definitely want to help, I want to enlighten, I want to earn a rites of passage for myself as well. And so each cause you can't disassociate and certainly can't discount the cause, because it has immediately to do with who we are and who we are actually. And who we are is consequential, because black men are under attack, because black men are under attack. And so, therefore, if we could navigate you know what I'm saying like through this war-torn territory you know what I mean like of small society, you know what I mean like against the empire, maybe we could die more honorably, as opposed to casualties of war and collateral damage. Maybe we could all earn some Purple Hearts out here.
Speaker 1:Well right man, listen, it's with valor, it's with dignity. You know what I'm saying, the integrity that I say this, I mean this. You know what I'm saying. Like, I'm going to commit my life, that's all I have. It is not my most prized possession. My life is a sacrifice. You know what I'm saying is a sacrifice for the glory of God. You just do what you can, and that's maybe the least you can do If you cannot just seek the knowledge you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And be inspired and not intimidated by the example. There's a difference between having pride and being proud. You can have pride, but don't be too proud to ask for help. You know what?
Speaker 3:I'm saying yeah, yeah, that's something that you and I talked before. That's something. I always struggle with yeah me personally, and I got to say a quick side note. One of the songs you've written was like my breakup song on my first marriage. It was Don't Ya Ah. So on a much lighter note, I remember just like being facetious as hell I remember every time a song came on I was just like blasting it.
Speaker 1:But that's the thing. Though, like a lot of people aren't even immediately familiar with me as a songwriter like I, you know I can get in those spaces and write for other people yeah like you know, um, and of course you know that one and mentioned you know I wrote and produced, don't you for the pussycat dolls?
Speaker 1:you know I wrote and produced, don't you For the Pussycat Dolls? Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Those are women. So it was like you know what I mean. Like I just try to master space, plant a flag and say I was there and then we move on to the. It's like what's my man's name? I can't remember his actual name anymore. Right off the top of my time, bro, y'all old enough to know that.
Speaker 3:No, I remember, but I can't remember the dude's name. I know he's talking about didn't he play in Kill Bill?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so whatever his face is, but the dude who played Kill Bill, who?
Speaker 1:was Bill. So Bill, that's right. Okay, I got you David Carradine.
Speaker 3:That's his name. Yeah, you better CD yeah.
Speaker 1:That's right. Y'all See y'all. This is all about history and storing that data and information. I mean, like I'm a bookkeeper about certain things. I mean like, so I always related to that. You know what I'm saying. Like I always saw myself as a nomadic. You know what I mean, like a wanderer. You know what I'm saying, like, even if just in your mind, because I did realize earlier that you didn't just have to be a product of your environment. You can be a product of your imagination, because your imagination is IP. It's actually an intellectual property, and when that thought can become a thing, it becomes real estate. Can you dig that?
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, I have a question really quickly. There have been, I guess, other artists in the space to talk about. As time goes on, they mature. What they talk about is different. I guess the mindset is different. Have you two also evolved as it relates to the stages of life that you are in and what God is showing you, what downloads that you've got?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you think about what you just said to me when you were, because how old are you now? I just turned 50 this year, 43. Okay, so technically, when you were a child, I was still a child, right on. I was speaking an adult man's wisdom, but it wasn't my wisdom, it was my mother's wisdom, right, and that's where the compassion comes from, you know, because my mother and father were both ministers and they both passed. My mother passed on.
Speaker 2:Sorry to hear that, bro.
Speaker 1:No, don't be, you know what I'm saying Like greatest gift I ever got. You know what I'm saying? Like if I could just wake up once more just to say one thing, I'd just say thank you, and then I'd let her rest, yes, sir, and would apologize for Right, right right, that's right on.
Speaker 1:But my mother lives on. I died. The person I used to be didn't always have some good shit to say. You understand Right? Actually it's quite the opposite Very destructive person. You know what I'm saying? Self-lowly, suicidal, psychotic. But ignorance is a sickness, a parasite that they eat at the person and personality, affect the personality. You have to be healed. So adversity is not your enemy. Adversity is a sparring partner. It's a good sport. It doesn't matter if it wins or loses, it just needs something to do.
Speaker 1:You know, what I'm saying. So you can beat adversity. That was a good one. Yeah, I'll go fight somebody need something to do. You know what I'm saying. So you can be that person. He's fine. That was a good one. I ain't going to fight somebody else. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so with that, I took on my mom's spirit and I took on her work. Thank you, bro. So I can't even really take the credit, and I don't mean for this to be a heavy situation. Always thought to myself hey, man, the inevitability is that we get older. You can either get better or get older.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. You feel me Like getting better and getting older, like maternal twins want to just come a little bit before the other. Now you can get older, you feel me, but that means you're going to end up leaving better behind. You know, you can get better and then you can age more gracefully. Yes, sir, it becomes secondary because, like you know, like your action is the motivating factor, the juice, the rejuvenation. So like the, not velocity but vitality. Vitality, yeah, Keeping you alive, and people want their lives to be straight lines. No, no, no, no such thing. I believe in up and down, right, even in vital signs. Vitality, a straight line means what?
Speaker 2:You're dead. You're dead, it's over.
Speaker 1:You go up and down what you doing, you're living.
Speaker 1:You're living. Peak and valley, peak and valley, that's how it go. Sound waves move in that way too. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so just correlating all these mosaic painting. God is an artist, absolutely, and the music that's reflected these days is fear. And these are the generational curses and cycles and systems that we continue to go through over and over and over again. You know why. Everybody is in contempt of their own immortality. Nobody wants to go straight. They don't want to take the straightest distance between point A to point B. You're going to get before you're going to get the guy, before you even have some fun.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So they stop, pull over to the side, go to sleep, carpool, get lost, run out of gas, you know, like all kind of stuff. Only so they don't have to be accountable for the inevitable with the creator themselves.
Speaker 3:Yeah, speaking of that because you talked about mortality now, and it's funny because you know, you and I are the same age and I've had to contemplate that as of late, not in fear of it simply because I've lost people. Yeah, you know, the past couple of years, people younger than I am they just pull over on the side of the road, not feeling well, died in the car of a heart attack. People find the next day it's something that I not only not fear but totally embrace it. My concern is not for me, it's for the people I leave behind, absolutely. Where are you with that? Because you talk. I hear you when I hear something more elevated than just having a regular conversation.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, exactly. So where are you with that? I'm right, exactly where you are, and I have this coined phrase that says use your mortality as your motivation.
Speaker 3:You don't have forever to do it, you got a window.
Speaker 1:For however long that may happen to be, time is finite. Time is finite, and so, therefore, in prayer and meditation, don't just ask and don't just pray, but plead that God give you something great to do. It may just extend your life. I want the weight of the responsibility. Put it on me, I do it. I do it. Keep me alive long enough so I can really make an impact, and when I'm tired, I ask to go.
Speaker 3:Speaking of that impact and that thing that you're asking for, what's driving you? What's that purpose?
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm definitely about community, about culture and about keeping my word. So I'm down with it. I'm down with us. I don't give a damn how shiny it look. You know what I'm saying. Like you know none of the other things I've been fortunate to be able to do. I've been able to be diverse and varied, textured, genre-bending enigmatic. You know what I'm saying? Like I've been able to be incredible in real life bending enigmatic. You know what I'm saying. Like I've been able to be incredible in real life, I've done some impossible.
Speaker 1:shit yeah, let them tell it. But at the bottom line I'm very comfortable right here on the ground. I got on flip-flops. I don't live in fear. If you want me that bad, come get me. You know what I'm saying, you feel me. And if you think something's sweet, what are you waiting on? Straight?
Speaker 3:up.
Speaker 1:I don't think you ready.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's my confidence.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know it keeps a lot of bullshit at bay. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. I got something to do now. Don't get in the way of that. And I'm God's child too. Yeah, and I like how people say he don't play by me, and he really don't, and that's why I glorify God and I give him all of the credit and praise due whenever I'm doing my thing, so when I'm doing something great, something greater than me, than he is doing in the world. You know what I'm saying, so I'm not really tripping.
Speaker 3:So you've mentioned God several times so far throughout this conversation.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about spirituality. Well to me. I did a song with Common. I just talked to him recently. We did a song called God, but it was an acronym for gaining one's definition. Okay, and that's the way I define it. You know what I'm saying. Like things have to be broken down, you have to think critically. God doesn't want anything to be assumed of him. Read about me, seek me, I'll tell you about me. Or I have this, tell you. Or that tree Right, or that anthill, you don't think I'm in them. It's everything. You know what I mean, right? So you'll be able to appreciate the life source that's in all things. A plant, water is alive, everything, the air is alive. We are inside the mind of God. You, we are inside the mind of God, you know, I believe. I believe it's bigger than we can possibly imagine. And then, when we can transition and we're speaking about preventable diseases and healing, that you feel me like. You don't want the ignorance to kill you, you feel me not knowing that's just terrible that's our community.
Speaker 3:We don't want To go to the doctor. We don't want to. I'll be fine, you know Willful ignorance, yeah, the enemy.
Speaker 1:They feed on that, they feed on that, they rich on that, and you broke on that and sick on that and gonna die About that. Right, you're gonna die.
Speaker 2:Right, I remember you saying Something about Food. Right, I remember you saying something about food being affordable in the neighborhood, because that's what they want you to eat, because it makes you sick and it kills you. That's right. You know a line or something like that yeah, that's what Soul.
Speaker 1:Food was about. Yes, sir, absolutely, absolutely that whole album was conceptualized off of that theoretical statement.
Speaker 1:Yes sir, you know what I'm saying and I'm just, I'm glad that. What did it say Out of the mouths of babes? You know what I mean? Like we were young boys and we weren't no saints, like we were just coming in out of the cold. The dungeon was a bomb shelter for us, you know what I mean. And we sought refuge there. And thank God Almighty for Rico Wade. Bless his life, bless his life, bless his soul. He gave it to me, man, gave it to me. I get misty. Think about that stuff. I'm almost like I'm just remembering, even as I'm talking to you. I'm like, oh, I can't quit, I still can't quit.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And bless my brother hard man. So we here, man.
Speaker 3:We here. You have a voice that is very unique, you know, and I wish I could think of the name of that song. I'm embarrassed to say I can't think of it. It was something to Mother Mary that you were singing.
Speaker 1:Mary did you know. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh my God, it's very impressive. You have a very unique voice that cuts through and basically disrupts. So the reason I bring that up is because in this particular industry from peeking behind the curtain a little bit, from what I know about it there's a lot of hey, this is what's working and I need you to sound this way. How did you fight that and push away the naysayers so that you could come off as unique as you are and not sound like anybody else?
Speaker 1:Well, there's two things. You can't insist you just have to persist.
Speaker 1:Okay, nothing guarantees a result better than repetition. You got to keep doing it, you got to persist. And then in that you have your POC, your proof of content. You know what I'm saying. You feel me, so I knew I had some good intention. I feel like the first ingredient to being great, or doing anything great, is having great taste. I mean so. Oscar Wilde has a great quote that says talent borrows and genius steals. I got great taste. So James Brown is not with us anymore, but he was my godfather. Guess what? I inherited his shoes. Now I can fit them.
Speaker 3:Wow, okay, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I look at him like a daddy too. You know all the big bros, they ain't do this for nothing. Jackie Wilson was my favorite, my first.
Speaker 2:Lonely teardrops my first Lonely Teardrops, come on.
Speaker 1:Lonely Teardrops Can sing, sing, sing, good gracious, yeah. That's the first, the first voice. I ever loved Jackie Wilson, him and I'm the rainbow, I'm the rainbow, I'm the rainbow In my heart. You remind me Gene Chandler, that's right. We gotta give it up for Gene Chandler. I think he came back and sang Joy and Pain, which was the rest in peace of Frankie Valli too. He was the big homeboy for me too. He had love for me. I actually talked to Maze. I was actually maybe I shouldn't announce this, but we were going to attempt at me coming in and doing some shows, something like filling in. I can't never replace Frankie, but I can sing his songs.
Speaker 3:So just a couple of quick questions. I know we've got to wrap up. Tell me about the project you're working on now. What's keeping you up at night?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, man, I'm doing Nars Barkley in this GB3, the final frontier. I mean, it's our last record together contractually.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:And, if God willing, we succeed at something again. There are really no expectations. We can't help but succeed because there's no expectation. Maybe there's a little bit of anticipation because I have announced here and there that we will become it, but it's been over the last 17 years. It's hard to believe that crazy and that kind of stuff like that is, that is, that's, that's aged, that well, it's been around that long. I can't believe it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's still thumping and when, every day of your life, man, you could just slip away behind something, nobody was ever ready. I Nobody was ever ready. You know what I mean Like. And God has just sustained me for purpose. I'm happy about that.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, so I'm doing that, okay, yeah, how has your definition of success shifted from when you were first starting out, when people started to know who you are as an artist, versus now? What is that definition of success and what does it mean to you?
Speaker 1:Well, success, of course, is health, wealth and wellness. You know what I mean. Success is sustainability, a system of one, I mean. So it's infrastructure, it's information, you know, it's appliance, it's inheritance, and it's being able to convey that knowledge. You know what I mean like capsulate that knowledge. When your children can swallow down the spoonful of sugar, it helps the medicine go down, you feel me. So it then ends up resulting in that financial literacy and things of that nature, Because it's about management and going about it proper, Not winging everything, but reading the instructions, you feel me. Every working product got some instructions that you got to go by Decide works. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Maybe black people do have a God complex. We just think everything is a given, it's like no, you got to study a little bit. It's like I hate to say that but it's true, yeah, and you got to go to the doctor too. Yeah, let's bring it back around full circle. That's why we're here.
Speaker 3:When is that happening? Tell us one more time, Dre.
Speaker 2:We are September the 20th at Old National Commons. Out there you got Harold's Chicken and Ice Bar, you got grown folks out there in the parking lot and we have some powerful, powerful people. Michael Hightower serves as our honorary chair and we have, of course, you know, mrs CeeLo Green is our inaugural healthcare champion. We have Emory Grady, piedmont, kaiser Permanente. Lord, forgive me y'all if I forget anybody, but I mean it's just so many people Morehouse, school of Medicine, so many people that are pouring into our community on that day to make sure that we get out there and we screen these black men and we screen these black women. And again, like, don't think it's just for black men, it's for black men and women. There are going to be screenings out there for women. So it's a community, it's a family affair, so bring everybody out. Man, 7 am to 12 pm is going to be something like Southfield has never seen before.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're just a lot more stubborn as far as going to the doctor. That's why we emphasize black men, because I don't think I've been to the doctor more than three times in my life, and you see my age.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm a prime example of that because I'm walking around, going, I'm fine, you know. So I know exactly what you mean. So one last question before we do the outro. Um, I want to ask, silo, if music disappeared and you were not able to do music anymore and you had to leave a message for this world using another art form, what would you use in hawai?
Speaker 1:Hmm, that's a good question. My other interests happen to be interior design and architecture and, of course, clothing and stuff like that, and I guess there are different facets of industry that I could probably excel in too. I mean, like it could be artist management, it could be stage direction, tech stuff, yeah, but I think I think, at large, I would always be an industrialist in some form or fashion.
Speaker 3:All right. So typically on the show when we do the outro notes, we have someone read just like three or four bullet points. It would be my honor if you would do that for me.
Speaker 2:Or, if you feel so inclined, like I said, I'm going to reiterate that the Reverendo Goodlove that's one of my favorite guys of all time, and take us out.
Speaker 1:Now listen here y'all. This is Reverend Rollo Goodlove. I need you to do me a favor. Please support us by following the show. Leave us a five-star review on the Apple Podcast Now. Thank you so much for listening, and next week we'll share the conversations surrounding real issues we deal with every day. Manhood matters now, Womanhood too, but manhood definitely matters we out of here, let's go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, thank you, thank you.
